The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-10
ON TO RICHMOND.
Give Gs fatural Gas-Let the Work Of Laying
Mains and Piping Houses Begin at Once.

There are certain immaterial amendments re-
quired to the natural-gas ordinance. which each
and all of the companies proposing to supply
the city with gas will require, before they COM
mence the work of piping the city. The failure
to make these amendments by the City Council
and Board of Alderman is now delaying the
work of laying mains and piping houses, and
keeping five hundred men out of profitable en-
ployment These amendments have been unani-
mously agreed upon by the gas committee OF
the City Council, but like the boys opossum.
that committee appears to be intimidated
The present ordinance is Objectionable in the
following particulars, and the provisions referred
to were placed in the ordinance. arule. to pre-
vent the introduction of gas, and have succeed
ed, and will succeed until they removed or
modified.
First-The ordinance prevents any company
from laying pipe within the city until it has
piped and delivered gas to the corporate limits.
Second-The ordinance requires each COM
pany, before commencing the laying of pipe
within the city. to give bond of $50 OOO with
| good freehold security. to be approved by the
| Mayor, to indemnify the city, and citizens
| against loss and damage on account of explosion
| or failure to properly improve the streets:
| Thrd-The ordinance places the whole sys-
! tenn of construction together with the location
| of pressure gauges, in the hands of the city
| engineer. and places each company piping the
| city substantially under his control, and subject
| furnishes the money of the use OF their own
| judgement to the discreet Investment OF
| their capital.
| Fourth-The ordinance requires the company
| to furnish and pay for meter on the demand
| of any consumer. however small, places no OBJ
| legation upon any consumer to keep the meter
| for any definite period, by which provision one
| thousand meters may be demanded one day, and
/ be thrown out the next.
F'ifth-The ordinance authorizes the City
| Council to require of the company ansextension
| of mains upon any street. however sparsely
| populated on the petition OF one-tenth OF the
residents on the line OF such extension. without
| giving the company any guarantee whatever as
| to the consumption, any interest whatever
/ on the cost of extension.
No demand is now being made by any COM
| pany for an increase of rates. and two COM
| panies are ready to commence piping the city,
| and will, am informed, do SO at once If these
| reasonable changes are made in the ordinance
The city is suffering from this blockade, and will
| continue to suffer as long as this dog in the
manger' policy is allowed to prevail The gem
| tlemen holding to this policy are laboring under
| the delusion that one company will be able to
supply city and citizens with gas and do
not appear to have any proper conception OF the
magnitude of the enterprise.
Mr.. McCrea. of the Pennsylvania railroad,
while in the city few days since. remarked to
learn yet about natural gas; they are laboring
under the deluson that two or three eight to
twelve inch mains will supply your city with
gas, and that moneyed capital of million or
so dollars will accomplish the end, whereas In
fact it will require ten such mains and five mill
ion dollars of capital to fully supply your city.
Upon this hint took the pains to gather some
facts in regard to the expenditures in supplying
gas to Pittsburg and conclude from them that
Mr. McCrea is fully sustained and that within
FIVE years we viii look back and smile at our
ignorance in supposing that of two or three
companies, with combined capital of little
| over million of dollars, one of them would be
able to control the principal supply of gas to the
city find that Pittsburg has the
Phadelpha Company. capital stock $50 500. 900
CHARTERS Valley Gas Company, capital 600 600
| C,uC fal
PEOPLES Natural Gas Company. capi.al.- 1000 900
Manufacturers Natural Gas Company,
The Allegheny Heating Company, capital. 100000
Total capital used in supplying Pitts
burg SIS, 600 600
*This company distributes through its mains to
consumers natural gas furnished 1t by the Phisi
delphia Company.
The pipe lines delivering gas to the city of
Pittsburg, large and small, estimated to be
equal to twenty-five twelve-inch mains. The
Philadelphia company estimate that their
wells, one hundred in number flowing into
their pipe MAINS deliver fully 35O0o0, 900 feet
| gas in Pittsburg and vicinity now reaches
fully GOO, 000, 900 feet. The population of Pitts
burg by the last census was 156. 2sl. The
population of Indianapolis by that census was
1854. / suppose the increase in population IN
each city since the last census has been about
equal. OF. say 80 per cent; this would I'D give
Pittsburgh a population of 234, 900 and
Indianapolis of 112. 900. Pittsburgh has, up te
this time, piped and introduced natural gas
|
of two years, pipe and introduce gas into al
least 5000 houses. The average cost OF
piping house is $50; the actua
cost of piping houses which is largely
the work of plumbers. would be $750.000 The
average number of fires for each dwelling-h house
is four making sixty thousand fires for dwelling
| houses alone. The average daily cons umptioI
| per fire. as shown by experience of Pittsburg, il
! 1900 feet and would be 120, 000 900 cubic fee
| cianapolis. In manufacturing the com
| parison will not hold good between Pittsbur,
| and Indianapolis at present. There is no reason
| why Indianapolis may not with cheap gas tue
in a few years equal or surpass Pittsburg in thu
| extent of her manufactures. Our location i
! more central and our distributing facilities ar
: | far superior. We have every advantage Pitts
burg possesses and in many lines of manufac
turing requiring the of hard wood, w
, possess superior advantages We can safely es
innate, however, that our fuel consumption 10
manufacturing will be equal to one-th1rd that o
Pittsburg, and that it viii require not less thai
D one hundred million feet of gas per day, for on
: factories alone. This would give daily con
sumption of 800 000 900 cubic feet of gas pc
day which will be demanded as the SUP
, ply pipes can be laid, the buildings piped an
, the gas furnished. At Pittsburg, where les
than three times this amount of gas is supplied
Q a capital is required of $l5. 900, 900. 1t may
q truthfully said that Pittsburg has to pipe gas
: longer distance, but should also conside
o that her wells fully three times productiv
3 and have more than double the rock pressur
the Indiana wells have. The output of tn
Ohio and Indiana gas wells has been greatly ez
= aggerated. 1t is now admitted that the larges
: gas wells in the Plttsburg district do not pu
. out over Is, 900, 900 cubic feet of gas per day
= The largest Findlay well, first estimated at IA
: 600 900 cubic feet per day, does not exceed 5
900, 900 feet, and it is safe to say that there
i, not well in Indiana putting out more tina
5000. 900 cubic feet of gas per day. There ar
!. $50 wells averaging 10, OOO 600 cubic feet dali
I now in at Pittsburg. 1t will certainly re
quire 100 wells averaging only 5000. 600 fee
= daily land this is full estimate OF Indian
. feet) to supply indianapolis. The facts an
figures given above are taken largely from
work entitled 'Pittsburg Interests, which wa
;, presented to the American Bankers ASS
4 citation, by Geo B. Hill & Co., and are know
to be perfectly reliable
!, 1t is argued that the winter is SO far ad